Daily News

Brazil – Job creation at lowest level since 2003

22 January 2014

The number of new jobs created in Brazil during 2013 was at its lowest level since 2003. During the course of the year the economy added 730,687 new jobs, reports economista.com.mx. The reduction in the number of new jobs created follows three years of meagre growth.

Despite fewer available jobs, the Brazilian unemployment level remains at near record low levels, as increasing numbers of Brazilians opt to further their education or take on further job training.

In the month of December, Brazil’s economy lost a net 499,444 jobs, according to the Labour Ministry, a figure that was in line with expectations. Economists had expected the economy to shed 456,000 positions last month, as a result of the seasonal recruitment of temporary workers whose contracts are ended before the end of the year.

Speaking at a news conference in Brasilia, Labour Minister Manoel Dias forecast a recovery in seasonally adjusted net job creation to between 1.4 million and 1.5 million payroll positions this year.

Part of the recovery in job creation, Dias noted, will stem from a surge in investment projects that were announced last year but whose construction will begin in 2014.

According to Reuters, the pace of job creation in Latin America's largest economy has lost momentum since 2011, when President Dilma Rousseff took office on a platform of slashing borrowing costs and doubling economic expansion rates. With inflation stubbornly high and consumer confidence waning, economists have been cutting their forecasts for economic growth in 2014 to around 2%.

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